12/06/08 11:43 / News / Admin Panel stuff

Check the shiz out, this entry is being posted from the admin panel, instead of phpMyAdmin!
I've made some key changes to authentication- there is now a full multi-level user authentication, stored in the database, and with hashed passwords. The hashing was far easier than I thought in the end- previously I'd been using crypt(), but that was flagging different results for each script that ran it, and since iE4 is built up of several eval()'s, it was impossible to get two crypt()'ed variables to match. I've since discovered that md5() is nice and simple. It's not as secure, since it's based on a hash instead of encryption, but I've done some reading up and I'm hoping to get some salt into the system that should make the hashes nasty enough to be secure. Need to check if there's an official way of doing this, or a php function that can do it, failing that, I'll add the salt manually in the script, and that should still have the same effect of messing up the hash beyond rainbow recognition.
So now each module of the admin panel has an access level required to view it, and a level required to change it. Each user can be a Viewer (0) designed to be able to view private data that's hidden from the public part of the website, User (1) who can change their password, and use typical admin modules, such as the blog, Moderator (2), who can create and edit other mods, users, and viewers, as well as changing the minor configuration of the website, and Admins (3), who have full access to everything.
This all fills a big problem that I nearly missed, in that the thought hadn't occurred to me that the target audience of this product is likely to have several people working on it, and having a single admin password isn't too smart.

Next stage is to make a module to manage modules, and I think I'll have a beta version on my hands- certainly I will have removed the requirement for phpMyAdmin, which is a sure sign that the system is nearing basic completion.

01/08/08 00:28 / Blog / Back to the favourites

So I'm breaking out of my tedium by doing what I enjoy. I've been sliding a bit, just watching TV every evening and blah blah blah... and I've been wondering what I can do to enjoy some stuff again.
The answer was to think what I used to enjoy doing not that long ago, and do that. So I've managed to get back into FFXI, and have been thoroughly enjoying Campaign Battle int he Wings of the Goddess expansion.
This expansion leads you through a portal to twenty years in the story's past, and it was pretty amazing to see the familiar landscapes, but two decades younger while the Crystal War was in full swing.



I also managed to break my writer's block tonight and nail the troubled first chapter of An'arias. I've hated the start of the book for a long time, and it seemed to get worse every time I revised it, but this time I've managed to get in the required information, at a rate that's easy to follow and gets to the point. Hoping to keep going on the later chapters now, where the main story arc is starting to build.
I haven't actually read a single book since I moved, which has been troubling, but I've completely failed to act on, so tonight I'm starting on the Twilight series, which everyone's been raving about.
Also had a hugely inspirational moment at the start of this evening, was listening to 10,000 Days (Wings Part 2) and watching the rain throw itself down outside, I grabbed my camera and took some short movie clips of the rain in the street lights. I'm hoping to collect some 'emotive' clips and make a short video to some choice music.

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